Global Magnitsky Human Rights & Anti-Corruption Bill Approved by the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee

July 1, 2014

30 June 2014 – In a land­mark vote, the U.S. Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee has approved a new Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Bill (S. 1933) which builds on the suc­cess of Rus­sia-focused Mag­nit­sky leg­is­la­tion by impos­ing tar­get­ed sanc­tions on cor­rupt offi­cials and human rights oppres­sors around the world.

“The new Glob­al Mag­nit­sky Human Rights & Anti-Cor­rup­tion bill is a his­toric piece of leg­is­la­tion designed to deter and cre­ate con­se­quences for those who are respon­si­ble for cor­rup­tion and human rights vio­la­tions around the world today. Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions are the new tech­nol­o­gy for fight­ing human rights abuse in the 21^st cen­tu­ry,” said William Brow­der, leader of the glob­al Mag­nit­sky jus­tice movement.

The new Glob­al Mag­nit­sky bill expands the author­i­ty of the U.S. Pres­i­dent to impose tar­get­ed sanc­tions on for­eign per­sons involved in cor­rup­tion and gross vio­la­tions. The Glob­al Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions include visa ban and asset freezes on indi­vid­ual human rights abusers any­where in the world.

In 2012, the U.S. Con­gress adopt­ed the Rus­sia-focused Mag­nit­sky Act which impos­es such tar­get­ed sanc­tions on indi­vid­u­als who were involved in the tor­ture and killing of Russ­ian anti-cor­rup­tion lawyer Sergei Mag­nit­sky, the cov­er up of these crimes, and indi­vid­u­als who are respon­si­ble for oppress­ing oth­er Russ­ian civ­il rights activists.

Since the adop­tion of the Mag­nit­sky Act, 30 per­sons have been placed on the U.S. Government’s sanc­tions list, includ­ing Russ­ian gov­ern­ment offi­cials as well as leader of the Klyuev Crime Group respon­si­ble for the theft of $230 mil­lion of Russ­ian pub­lic funds exposed by late Sergei Mag­nit­sky (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20140520.aspx).

The glob­al Mag­nit­sky bill is the lat­est in a series of efforts by the US and Europe to build on the Mag­nit­sky Act and end impuni­ty for human rights abusers and cor­rupt offi­cials around the world.

Fol­low­ing the vote in the Sen­ate For­eign Rela­tions Com­mit­tee, the next step in the leg­isla­tive process is for the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky bill to be vot­ed on the Sen­ate floor.

See details on the Glob­al Mag­nit­sky bill:

https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113^th-congress/senate-bill/1933

Russia Targets Magnitsky Justice Campaigner Browder Through Interpol for the Third Time

June 19, 2014

The Russ­ian gov­ern­ment has again tar­get­ed William Brow­der, leader of the glob­al Mag­nit­sky jus­tice cam­paign, through Inter­pol, an inter­na­tion­al police organ­i­sa­tion. This is Russia’s third attempt to involve Inter­pol in its polit­i­cal attack on Mr Brow­der, who has angered the Russ­ian author­i­ties with his crit­i­cism of cor­rup­tion and human rights vio­la­tions under the Putin regime.

This morn­ing, the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office announced that it has suc­ceed­ed in its goal of mak­ing Interpol’s data pro­tec­tion com­mis­sion, known as the Com­mis­sion for the Con­trol of Interpol’s Files, to con­sid­er the third Russ­ian request seek­ing to search for William Brow­der via Inter­pol chan­nels. Pre­vi­ous requests were denied by both the Inter­pol Com­mis­sion and by Interpol’s Gen­er­al Sec­re­tari­at on the grounds of their “pre­dom­i­nant­ly polit­i­cal nature” and being con­trary to Interpol’s Con­sti­tu­tion and rules, which pro­hib­it tar­get­ing polit­i­cal oppo­nents through police cooperation.

In a state­ment, the Russ­ian Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office said this morning:

“Thanks to the actions of the Gen­er­al Prosecutor’s Office of the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion, the Com­mis­sion for Con­trol of Interpol’s Files will recon­sid­er the mat­ter of the inter­na­tion­al search for William Brow­der.” http://www.genproc.gov.ru/smi/news/genproc/news-202876/The announce­ment fur­ther explained that the Russ­ian Prosecutor’s Office has achieved its goal of tar­get­ing Mr Brow­der at Inter­pol by “hold­ing meet­ings with Interpol’s lead­er­ship and heads of depart­ments”, and tak­ing part in the Inter­pol Commission’s meet­ing in Jan­u­ary 2014 with a “rea­soned report on the valid­i­ty of crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion” of Mr Browder.

Mr Brow­der, who resides in Eng­land, has been tar­get­ed by the Russ­ian author­i­ties with retal­ia­to­ry and spu­ri­ous crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings in Rus­sia for a num­ber of years. The attack on him by the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment esca­lat­ed after the adop­tion in Decem­ber 2012 of the U.S. ‘Sergei Mag­nit­sky Rule of Law Account­abil­i­ty Act’, which impos­es tar­get­ed visa and finan­cial sanc­tions on Russ­ian offi­cials and oth­ers involved in Magnitsky’s ill-treat­ment and death in police cus­tody, and the sub­se­quent cov­er up of those crimes.

Since the pas­sage of the Mag­nit­sky law in the Unit­ed States, the Russ­ian gov­ern­ment has respond­ed in a hos­tile man­ner, by con­vict­ing Mr Brow­der in absen­tia and Mr Mag­nit­sky posthu­mous­ly in the first ever posthu­mous tri­al in Russ­ian legal his­to­ry, which was held beyond the statute of limitations.The judge who presided over the posthu­mous tri­al was put on the sanc­tions list by the U.S. Gov­ern­ment, and at the same time pro­mot­ed by Pres­i­dent Putin.  Russ­ian author­i­ties have also opened a new crim­i­nal case in which Mr Brow­der is alleged to have harmed Russia’s “nation­al eco­nom­ic secu­ri­ty,” through his share­hold­er activism twelve years ago at Krem­lin-con­trolled Gazprom, Russia’s gas monopoly.

No com­ment from Interpol’s Com­mis­sion on the Russ­ian Prosecutor’s Office announce­ment is avail­able yet.

Russian Interior Ministry Produces False Information to Assist one Officer in Attempt to Get Off of New U.S. Magnitsky List

May 23, 2014

Yes­ter­day, the Moscow branch of the Russ­ian Inte­ri­or Min­istry respond­ed to the inclu­sion of its offi­cial Andrei Krechetov in the U.S. Mag­nit­sky List with a state­ment claim­ing that he did not have direct role in the Magnitsky’s case.

On 20 May 2014, the U.S. Trea­sury pub­lished an addi­tion to the Mag­nit­sky List, which includ­ed 10 Rus­sians with per­son­al involve­ment in the Mag­nit­sky case, includ­ing the Inte­ri­or Min­istry offi­cial Andrei Krechetov. Read more

Norwegian Government Offers William Browder ‘Safe Passage’ to Pursue Magnitsky Campaign in Norway

April 10, 2014

The Nor­we­gian gov­ern­ment has decid­ed to pro­tect William Brow­der, the leader of the Mag­nit­sky jus­tice cam­paign from Russ­ian per­se­cu­tion on their territory.
In a let­ter sent to Mr Brow­der’s UK lawyers, the Nor­we­gian Min­istry of Jus­tice said that they have con­clud­ed that in light of the polit­i­cal nature of the pro­ceed­ings against Brow­der, Nor­way would not extra­dite or pro­vide legal assis­tance to Rus­sia in rela­tion to Mr Browder.
“The Nor­we­gian Min­istry of Jus­tice and Pub­lic Secu­ri­ty is at present of the view that the cri­te­ria for extra­di­tion and Mutu­al Legal Assis­tance are not ful­filled,” said the Nor­we­gian Jus­tice Min­istry in its let­ter. Read more

Russia Responds to European Magnitsky Sanctions by Suspending All Probes into Implicated Officials

April 3, 2014

In an appar­ent response to the adop­tion by the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment of the Mag­nit­sky Sanc­tions List of 32 Rus­sians, this morn­ing the Russ­ian author­i­ties announced that they have “sus­pend­ed” all inves­ti­ga­tions of Russ­ian offi­cials impli­cat­ed in Mag­nit­sky tes­ti­monies and the com­plaints filed by his col­leagues. Read more

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